Getting back to what Esperanza said re bringing only a carload of goods across the border, here is my experience from a year ago: I crossed at the Nogales truck crossing early in the morning with an SUV and cartop cargo carrier loaded to the gills with a component stereo, maybe 200 CD's, 3 guitars and an amplifier, kitchen stuff (including spices and some plug-in items), books, clothes, you name it.

Forcing the tourists (minivan piled high with gear and a cartop carrier, on the road at 0700 ... what else could they be?) to pull left to pass, and then dropping back as I finally got the GPS to settle between 74.8 and 75.2 mph.

Unless we put her in the pet carrier for the entire trip, which would be pretty cruel (and would also necessitate getting the cartop luggage carrier out of the garage from underneath the summer's accumulation to handle the luggage).

after brunch Sara and I stopped at the "Rack Shop" which specializes in cartop racks, etc. the punky kid working there did not know a hill of beans, and basically said $200 for the bars to mount the canoe mounts on for the top of Sara's car.